RESEARCH AT UNESCO-IHE: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE (original) (raw)
Scenario of Environmental Research and Development, 2018
Over the last few centuries, water resources management and expectations have transformed in most developing economies of Asia and Africa. The contemporary impact of climatic changes, booming population as well as the need for improved human socio-economic welfare is greater than ever. However, these compounded impacts consequently lead to greater demands of water for domestic, energy, agriculture and industries. Moreover, recent water associated problems accumulates faster than the resolving relevant backload issues. Though, most of the developing economies have already adopted the Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) approach, however, water resource experts are still trapped in puzzles of choosing between the present (exploiting potential) and the future (conservation). Therefore, this study critically reviewed key secondary data from various sources, through analysing the modern burden of water resource superlative priority between the exploitation of potential and conservation on the other side in an IWRM setting. The study uncovered that the IWRM largely calls for an equitable water access and management without compromising the sustainability of the ecosystem. However, these calls recently lack a clear scale model realm for negotiating between the maximum exploitation limits and the minimum conservation limits of water resources. Though, any IWMRM plan with either exploiting potential or conservation motives can indispensable for water management no matter what is the regional priorities. Therefore, this study affirmed that an IWRM plan must be oriented and shaped on the basis of regional water availability and abundance guided by a defragmented regional laws and policies.